“We estimate that the region is short of 1,500 nurses according to the Safe Staffing Regulation of the Order of Nurses. The shortage of nurses has worsened in recent years, with direct implications on the quality and safety of care provided to the population and on the physical and mental health of the nurses,” stated the Portuguese Nurses’ Union (SEP) in a statement.
The lack of professionals and the workload that nurses in the Algarve Health Unit (ULS) — which manages the hospitals in Faro, Portimão, and Lagos and basic emergency services in the region — are subjected to, may lead them “to request exemption from liability,” the union warned.
If the nurses request exemption from liability, it will be the administration of the ULS and, “ultimately, the Ministry of Health” who will be held responsible for the “lack of measures to minimize the problem,” considered the SEP.
“It is common for nurses to have to cover shifts to make up for the absence of others who, due to health issues, are forced, justifiably, to take medical leave,” the union exemplified.
The SEP shared the account of a professional at the ULS, who reported having entered her service at 8:00 AM, worked the afternoon shift (4:00 PM-12:00 AM), and returned to work the next morning, “with minimal rest.”
The situation is “recurrent,” and nurses feel the impact of excessive workload on their health. They face situations where five nurses have to “care for 40 patients, most of whom have high levels of dependency,” without being able to “ensure dignity and safety,” it added.
The SEP compared the ratio provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which is nine nurses per 1,000 inhabitants, to Portugal’s, which has 7.9 professionals per 1,000 inhabitants, and to the Algarve ULS, which has “only 4.8 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants.”
In some services of the Algarve ULS, “there should be 11 nurses in the morning,” but “only 7 to 8 are present,” with the number 11 “already below the Safe Staffing levels,” and situations where “five nurses provided care to 40 hospitalized patients,” the union added.
The SEP emphasized that “during the afternoon and night shifts, these ratios are even more concerning” and lamented the “lack of essential material resources for professional practice,” which has a “strong impact on care delivery, the dignity of patients, and the ethical and legal responsibility of nurses.”
Nurses of the Algarve ULS “refuse to trivialize the risk of error due to excessive work and lack of conditions,” yet they reject being “accomplices in the deterioration” of the National Health Service. They “refuse to work in conditions that violate the principles of safety, quality, and professional dignity” that the hospital administration, according to the union, is failing to ensure.
